benifits of using PROBIOTIC on bunny who was weaned off way to early

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planetjenessa

planetjenessa

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My bunny was born November 12, 2011. I bought him at a local pet shop (where he was born) on December 19, 2011

I have a concern with his development
he was weaned at only 3 weeks of age. He is now, about 5-6 weeks old. He seems healthy, eating pellets and hay, pooping normal. I'm just concern that since he was taken away so young, he may not be as healthly like a rabbit who stayed with its mother until 8-9 weeks.

So my question is.
What is a probiotic?
What does it do?
What is the benifits of giving it to a bunny who was taken away from mothers milk so young?
Where do I buy? Brand? Name? Doasage?
Is is a need? An extra "to-do"?
How will my bunny benifit from using it?

I tried to search Google for an answer, but I'm confused, everything was broken down in "science" talk that I can not understand.
PLEASE HELP! All side, opinions, pros, cons, will help.


I need to know everything I can! To help my bunny be-stay healthy.
 
I understand your concerns. I don't know what the pros/cons of using a probiotic on your baby would be. However I can tell you that our baby was taken away from mom at 4 1/2 weeks. Which like your bunny is way to young. We did not know a thing about rabbits at the time. I rescued Fraggles from being raised for meat. She lived in a cardboard box for the first few days. All we did was give her unlimited alfalfa and timothy pellets. No treats and no veggies! We really did not do anything else for her except kept her warm and made sure things were not stressful. She is a year old now and 14 pounds. I understand how you feel, your kinda going threw what I did. I was so sure Fraggles would not survive. Now we can't get her to stop grooming our feet. I would suggest a vet check up but don't introduce anything into bunnies system without a rabbit savvy vets approval. If you need to chat you can email me at [email protected] I do know all about how stressful being a first time bunny mom is. Hang in there :)
 
Wow! Big bunny! Good to know that there's other bunnys out there who was tooken away early, but survived.
Bunny seems happy, he loves the cats and the cats love licking him. Its been stressful for me, because recently my heart rat died, then 2 days latter my other rat passed.. then I got two new rats, who are lovely.
THEN I bought a full Rex bunny and 1 week later he passed away ( the shop didn't tell me he was sick, someone "dropped" him off, didn't want him"
Now this new bunn, I'm hoping all is well. Hes just so tiny! And I'm just a paranoid mother, I think because I can't have any kids, animals is the other monthly feeling I will ever feel.
 
Fraggles is our "only child" :).
The day I brought her home she fit in the palm of my hand. They are very tiny. I would take your bun to a good rabbit vet and get her all checked just to be on the safe side as she did come from a pet shop.
 
This may sound a little strange, but hang in there with me. I suggest getting the book, "Relaxed Rabbit". It explains how to do massage on your bunny. There have been studies that prove massage helps health in humans, so why not other species?

About 10 years ago I was working as a vet tech in an animal emergency room. A farmer brought in a kitten that was about an hour old. He accidentally disturbed a feral cat while giving birth. She ran away without the one kitten. Since he had never seen her before he didn't think she would come back. The kitten never had mother's milk. The vets wanted to put him to sleep because they said he would never make it. I just couldn't do it. I had to take him home and try. I bottle fed around the clock and after every meal did a full body massage, particularly on the ears and feet (full of pressure points for the whole body). My tiny, "monkey faced slug" as he was affectionately called because I was afraid to name him, thrived. At a monthold we named him Duncan and decided no one was going to meet our standards of care, so he was officially in the family. He grew to be an 18 pound cat, all muscle and very playful. Unfortunately he did pass from cancer, but he had a very happy healthy life up until the last two weeks of his life.

Basically with massage you have nothing to loose but a couple bucks on a book, and everything to gain. It also really helps withyour bond. I now massage all of my animals, they just get a blissed out look on their faces and deeply relax.
 
In all honesty, your young rabbit sounds just fine. And given he/she was from a petstore they still may have given you incorrect information. The bunny in your pic doesnt look super young and from the sounds of how everything is going on your end, its all peachy. So dont worry about it too much just make sure the new bun keeps eating and drinking and that their poops are A-okay!

As per probiotic, go for it. I would personally recomend using either "Florentero", "Acute Care" or "Bene Bac" The first 2 you should be able to get from any vet clinic or they can order it in for you, the bene bac should be able to be purchased from petco or petsmart ( I have no experience with this product only the first 2)
Dose wise, make sure its the paste, I would offer about a pea sized portion to a strip 1cm long. This will help keep the gut happy through the stress of a new home, new routine, new diet, new everything. The only con I can currently think of at the moment is allowing a developing tummy to rely on the pro biotic in this crucial growth time, rather then allowing their own tummy to grow and adjust to life properly. If you use it for the recomended week however, it should be just fine. :)

Take a deep breath!
 
MiniLopHop wrote:
This may sound a little strange, but hang in there with me. I suggest getting the book, "Relaxed Rabbit". It explains how to do massage on your bunny. There have been studies that prove massage helps health in humans, so why not other species?

About 10 years ago I was working as a vet tech in an animal emergency room. A farmer brought in a kitten that was about an hour old. He accidentally disturbed a feral cat while giving birth. She ran away without the one kitten. Since he had never seen her before he didn't think she would come back. The kitten never had mother's milk. The vets wanted to put him to sleep because they said he would never make it. I just couldn't do it. I had to take him home and try. I bottle fed around the clock and after every meal did a full body massage, particularly on the ears and feet (full of pressure points for the whole body). My tiny, "monkey faced slug" as he was affectionately called because I was afraid to name him, thrived. At a month old we named him Duncan and decided no one was going to meet our standards of care, so he was officially in the family. He grew to be an 18 pound cat, all muscle and very playful. Unfortunately he did pass from cancer, but he had a very happy healthy life up until the last two weeks of his life.

Basically with massage you have nothing to loose but a couple bucks on a book, and everything to gain. It also really helps with your bond. I now massage all of my animals, they just get a blissed out look on their faces and deeply relax.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing, I massage all my animals, my cats, Rats, and even my new bunny... your right! It dosnt bring a special bond between us, they love it so much... I actually found out about giving pet massages from a t.v. show! Then I read more about it, how to do it, spots to do it, they love it.
My rats can't get enough, as for my bunny he only sit for a little bit, then he runs happily
 
such a late replay, i know. I finally got my computer back.
Bunny minds think alike!!! lol i was just introduced to that book and planned on getting it.
Pikachu loves being massaged/petted. Its so funny,
as soon as she sees me or my boyfriend she lays down, when the RATS are crawling on her, (dont worry rats and bunny are bff) she lays down her head for them, "thinking" there giving her a massage, but there really crawling/licking her.
I think ill get the book, i recently orders Bunny's for dummies along with the Jaycee dugard stolen life story.
 
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